Careers

Do the possibilities presented by an innovative, open, and free internet inspire you? Do you find yourself engaged in passionate discussions about privacy policies? Are you yearning to put your expertise to work on internet neutrality legislation? If so, you might be a great fit for our team. View our open opportunities.

Current Openings

Communications Intern, Spring 2018

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is seeking a communications intern for Spring 2018.

About CDT

CDT is a leading nonprofit public interest organization, working at the cutting edge of digital rights policy. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT engages in a variety of strategies to enhance free expression and privacy, including advocacy, public education, and research. CDT works on legislation, participates in agency rule-makings, engages in litigation, and fosters consensus-building among public interest and private sector stakeholders. CDT in headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit our About page.

Responsibilities

Communications interns have the opportunity to work directly on executing CDT’s strategic communications efforts. They will delve into a range of technology policy topics, familiarize themselves with communications best practices and tools, work with multimedia, and attend and assist with relevant events.

This position will be part-time, 16-20 hours a week, for the spring of 2018 in our Washington, D.C. office.

Qualifications

The ideal intern will have a strong interest in communicating complex policy issues and possess strong writing abilities. Interest in internet & technology policy is a huge plus, as is knowledge of the D.C. media landscape, web platforms, social media and any photo or video editing experience.

CDT is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

Compensation

The position is unpaid, however the experience is priceless!

To Apply

Interested candidate should send a cover letter, resume and writing sample to Elizabeth Seeger at [email protected] Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Election Technology Fellow

CDT Fellows shape important public policy conversations at the intersection of civil liberties, security, privacy, and technology. A typical day may include everything from researching and writing papers or analysis to public speaking opportunities to private meetings amongst or across stakeholder communities. The role offers autonomy, opportunity to directly impact critical issues of our day, and professional development within a supportive environment. Fellows will interact on a regular basis with CDT’s experts as well as the public interest groups, government officials, academics, companies, and other stakeholders with whom CDT engages.

This position will help lead CDT’s election privacy & security project, working under the direction of Chief Technologist Joseph Lorenzo Hall, for an initial period of two years, thanks to a grant received from The Democracy Fund. CDT’s goals for this project include:

To bring elements of state-of-the-art nation-state cybersecurity defense to state and local election officials by developing materials such as a maturity model and set of playbooks for voter registration system cybersecurity;

To conduct data stewardship outreach to election officials, election data scientists, and political campaign entities who regularly handle voter data in order to better protect that data and stem the increasing frequency of data breaches; and,

To equip stakeholder groups with clear information on cyber security opportunities and improvements. Ideally, this position would be based in CDT’s Washington, DC office.

Given the importance of diverse perspectives in representing the public interest in technology policy, we also encourage candidates who explicitly seek to increase underrepresented groups in technology through their work. Although not required, we particularly welcome candidates with the ability and artistic skill to communicate technical topics in a visual manner.

About CDT

CDT is a leading nonprofit public interest organization, working at the cutting edge of digital rights policy. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT engages in a variety of strategies to enhance free expression and privacy, including advocacy, public education, and research. CDT works on legislation, participates in agency rule-makings, engages in litigation, and fosters consensus-building among public interest and private sector stakeholders. CDT in headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit our About page.

Responsibilities

Leading research into state-of-the-art cybersecurity defensive best practices, conducting gap analyses with respect to the current best practice landscape with an eye towards creating written work products that describe and analyze these practices, costs, and policy implications;

Convening and engaging with technical staff, election officials, advocates, election vendors, government officials, and academics working on voting technology issues, to develop and disseminate defensive security mechanisms specific to election environments large and small;

Authoring policy papers, reports, blog posts, and similar materials focused on current issues affecting the internet and civil liberties, with an emphasis on election technology; and,

An ability to work diplomatically with people from various stakeholder communities, who may not always constructively agree with one another;

Experience in formal or informal project management;

Possession of superb writing skills for a technical audience; and

The ability to communicate easily with lay people about complex technical topics.

Compensation

Salary is commensurate with experience and is competitive with public interest and government pay scales. CDT provides a generous benefits package that includes health care and dental coverage, a retirement plan, paid vacation, sick days, and parental leave.

To Apply

Free Expression Policy Counsel/Analyst

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is seeking a new member of our team to work on issues at the intersection of free expression and technology in CDT’s Washington, DC, office. CDT works to preserve freedom of expression and other human rights online through a variety of strategies, including advocacy, public education, and research. CDT engages in legislative debates and litigation at the state and federal level, participates in agency rulemaking and other policy development processes, and works to build best practices with industry and other civil society advocates to preserve the open Internet as a platform for the widest range of free expression.

This position on the Free Expression team offers an exciting opportunity to work on challenging issues related to free expression in the United States and around the world. The team member will be deeply engaged in CDT’s work advocating for strong First Amendment/human rights protections for online speech and promoting legal and policy frameworks that shield intermediaries from legal liability for the content they host and transmit on behalf of their users. The team member will also contribute to CDT’s work dealing with the intersection of free expression and a number of issues as digital copyright, net neutrality, and privacy. The position offers opportunities for growth and the team member will be encouraged to identify and lead CDT’s work on new and emerging issues in online free expression.

About CDT

CDT is a leading nonprofit public interest organization, working at the cutting edge of digital rights policy. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT engages in a variety of strategies to enhance free expression and privacy, including advocacy, public education, and research. CDT works on legislation, participates in agency rule-makings, engages in litigation, and fosters consensus-building among public interest and private sector stakeholders. CDT in headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit our About page.

Responsibilities

Qualifications

This position is ideal for recent law or policy graduates or other professionals with 1-3 years work experience in free expression, information policy, civil liberties, or technology policy, and a demonstrated commitment to public interest work. An ideal candidate would have:

A strong academic record and an advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g. law, computer science, information, public policy);

Expertise in at least one of the following areas: U.S. First Amendment law; global or U.S. intermediary liability law; international human rights law and free expression; content moderation by large-scale content hosts; transparency reporting;

This position offers growing autonomy and professional development within a supportive team environment. The team member will be fully integrated into CDT’s Free Expression team, which works closely with a number of other CDT teams including Open Internet, Privacy and Data, Security & Surveillance, and the Brussels team. The team member will participate in staff meetings, strategy discussions, and working group consultations. The position will, over time, take on responsibility for coordinating working group meetings and other convenings, developing and managing specific projects for the team, and representing CDT through public speaking and the press.

Compensation

Salary is competitive with public interest and government pay scales. CDT provides a generous benefits package that includes health care and dental coverage, a retirement plan, paid vacation, sick days, and parental leave.

To Apply

Law, Policy & Technologist Intern, Summer 2018

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is currently accepting applications for internships in Summer 2018. College and law school students, recent graduates, and graduate students with an interest in internet and technology policy, human rights, and/or civil liberties are invited to apply.

Summer interns work closely with CDT policy experts, technologists, and attorneys on an array of civil liberties and international human rights issues related to technology and the internet, including online free expression, electronic surveillance, digital copyright, cybersecurity, internet governance, and consumer privacy.

We accept applications for three types of internships: legal, policy analysis, and technologist internships. Responsibilities and requirements for these positions are described below.

About CDT

CDT is a leading nonprofit public interest organization, working at the cutting edge of digital rights policy. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT engages in a variety of strategies to enhance free expression and privacy, including advocacy, public education, and research. CDT works on legislation, participates in agency rule-makings, engages in litigation, and fosters consensus-building among public interest and private sector stakeholders. CDT in headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, please visit our About page.

Responsibilities

Law students and law graduates: Interns who are current law students – or who already earned a law degree – can contribute to CDT’s work by conducting legal and policy research, drafting reports and legal analyses, assisting in the preparation of testimony, presentations, legislative proposals and briefs, and creating online educational resources.

Policy analysts: Interns with training or experience in policy and advocacy can contribute to CDT’s work by conducting policy research, drafting reports and analyses, assisting in the preparation of testimony, presentations, and legislative proposals, and creating online educational resources.

Technologists: Interns with technical training or experience can contribute to CDT’s work by conducting research, evaluating technical standards, drafting accessible policy papers about technical topics and reports, assisting in the preparation of testimony and legislative proposals, and designing online educational resources. Students from all technical or scientific majors and degree programs are encouraged to apply.

In a typical summer, we usually host three to five legal interns, and one to three non-legal interns.

Qualifications

Students from all majors and degree programs are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have an interest in internet and technology policy, civil liberties and/or human rights law, strong research and writing skills, the ability to take initiative and prioritize responsibilities in a fast-paced office environment, and a strong academic record.

CDT is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.

Compensation

Interns receive modest weekly stipends. We encourage applicants to explore public interest funding that may be available through their schools, the Google Policy Fellowship and foundations such as the Ford Foundation. To secure summer funding, you must submit an application directly to CDT in addition to any school or foundation application processes.

To Apply

Please use the form below to submit your cover letter explaining your interest in interning at CDT, and your current resume. If you would rather send them in a separate email please send them to [email protected] All selected applicants will be interviewed by telephone, during which time we may ask interviewees to submit references or a writing sample.

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Due to the large number of applications, only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

Deadlines
We accept applications for summer internships from November 16 to March 15, but applications are considered on a rolling basis, and we may complete our selection process in mid-February or early March.

Please note: We ask that our interns work full-time in our D.C. office for at least 10 weeks during the summer, starting in late May or early June. We recognize that this requirement will usually preclude interns “splitting” their summers between two employers, but have found that a 10-week internship provides the best experience for interns and their supervisors.

The Center for Democracy & Technology is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or physical ability.